YouTube, the hugely popular online video site, has renewed a global licensing deal with Sony Music Entertainment which allows it to continue showing music videos..
The deal with Sony, the world's second largest music company, is important in light of a decision by Warner Music Group to walk away from similar contract renewal talks with YouTube last December in a dispute over licensing fees. Warner asked YouTube to take its music videos down.
A person familiar with Sony Music's plans said the company still sees great value in YouTube's huge numbers of users both to Sony's artists and to the artists' fans...
...Music videos, once a free promotional tool on television, have become one of the fastest growing digital revenue streams for music companies on sites like YouTube and News Corp's MySpace.
The music labels, who signed early licensing deals with YouTube in 2006, have been keen to improve the payment rates they earn from the popular video site.
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